For the most part, traveling east from Hoover Dam at the Arizona/Nevada border to Phoenix along US 93 doesn’t really rank as particularly “pretty.” To be sure, some scenic views catch your attention. There’s an overlook or two worth stopping to take in the vista. But brown gets a bit tedious after a while.
By the way, just to give an idea of how brown….
Nevertheless, somewhere along US 93 in the middle of Arizona’s brown desert, there’s a several-mile-long stretch with hundreds of Joshua trees on both sides of the road. This caught my attention.
A few years ago, we visited Joshua Tree National Park in southern California and were introduced to these fascinating specimens.
Other than in the national park, I didn’t know they existed in such concentrated quantity. Consequently, the sudden appearance of these interesting trees was a glad break from the desert monotony. I tried taking a few photos through the car window as we sped along; naturally, the results were disappointing.
So, as soon as I could find a decent turn off, I eased the car onto the wide sandy shoulder, got out, and started snapping.
Turned out, the impromptu parking spot afforded a couple surprises.
Just a few feet in front of the car stood a small cluster of cacti sporting their fuchsia blooms—a welcome splash of color in the otherwise drab desert! Looking around, I could see other splashes of blooming cacti in the area. Not many, but enough to enjoy and smile at.
I decided to move in closer to this little cluster, and the smile quickly left, replaced by a frown and a bit of disgust.
Incredibly, surrounding the gorgeous blooming cactus was the offal of scores of insensitive motorists—fellow travelers who thought nothing of tossing their empty water bottles, McDonalds food wrappers, paper cups, and other miscellaneous pieces of garbage.
Had they not seen the myriad commercials I saw as a kid of the 60s and 70s about Keeping America Beautiful?
Are the “Please Don’t Litter” signs not polite enough?
Do they think the litterbug critter is cute or something?
The warning signs about a $500 fine for littering mean nothing?
What’s up with people, anyway?
To responsible, conscientious people, “litterbugs” are annoying. To those who love the outdoors, they’re a special kind of evil.
And yet….
There’s a bit of a “litterbug” in all of us, isn’t there?
Ever heard of Times Beach? Located in Missouri, it was founded in the mid-1920s as a summer resort—a place to get away from the heat and humidity and find refreshment in waters fed by Meramec River. Then the Great Depression hit, and the resort degenerated into a town of low-income housing. Times Beach fell victim again—not to economic collapse, but to an environmental calamity! Upriver, Northeastern Pharmaceutical and Chemical Company saw to that.
NPPC made Agent Orange. Dioxin-laced oil, waste from the chemical plant, was sprayed on Times Beach’s dirt roads. In time, birds, horses, and people’s pet dogs started dying off. Also in the region, Monsanto produced PCBs that mysteriously showed up in Times Beach soil.
Need I say more?
As long as I’m griping about litter, there’s a different kind that greatly irks me. Music litter! Here’s what I mean. We were in Zion National Park, one of the most beautiful of our national parks, hiking an iconic trail that offered glorious views all along the path. Out in nature. Enjoying the scenery, the sounds of nature. All of a sudden, coming up the trail, we could hear the pulsating beat of some rap song. For the next couple minutes—until the “litterbug” approached and was well past us—the cacophony shattered our enjoyment. “Man,” I muttered to my wife, “can’t ya leave the stuff alone for a couple hours? Do ya really have to trash the trail like this?” Or words to that effect.
It’s so easy to get miffed at litterbugs of all kinds and corporate polluters, too, isn’t it?
And yet…there’s a bit of the “litterbug” in all of us, is there not?
I can hear the protests.
- “Not me! I don’t even toss an apple core out the car window!”
- “Not me! I even recycle everything I can!”
- “Not me! I’ve never even worked for a chemical company!”
- “Not me! I wear ear buds!”
Yes, I understand. But litter comes in more ways than discarding trash along the highway or tossing worn-out tires in the river or obliterating the sounds of nature with a Bluetooth speaker.
I’m thinking more along the lines of a caustic remark tossed at one’s spouse, child, co-worker….
- Or the juicy tidbit about so-and-so….
- Or a teen’s act of rebellious defiance of his parents….
- Or the satisfying smirk at another’s misfortune….
- Or fudging the expense report….
- Or countless hours wasted on worthless entertainment choices….
- Or any expression of selfishness…greed…envy…covetousness…anger…lust…laziness…animosity….
Rats! It’s always easier to get bent out of shape over someone else’s litter and toxic waste!
Before getting too worked up, I need to review the words of Jesus:
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
– Matthew 7:3-5
Then maybe get involved in a clean-up effort, no?
